Ronnie O'Sullivan could swap snooker for snakes after the five-time world champion declared he would be ready to take on the 'I'm a Celebrity' jungle next year.

O'Sullivan celebrated his 42nd birthday Tuesday with a 6-1 win over Michael White at the UK Championship, but admitted he might not be around to defend the title in 2018 should he go all the way at the Barbican.

Instead, the Briton could follow fellow snooker players Steve Davis and Jimmy White in appearing on the ITV reality show, even if it means not playing at the 2018 UK Championship.

"Why not? Let's have a bit of the jungle," O'Sullivan told BBC Two following his victory over White. "They'll think I'm a gorilla when they look at me and I take my T-shirt off.

"I couldn't have done that trial last night [Monday], though, with the snakes. I'm going to get trained for it, get used to the snakes.

"I'd do anything now, I would love it. I'm up for it. I used to think 'no, I couldn't do that, I've got to be a pure snooker player,' but you get to a stage when you think 'this is painful and that's all fun, a good laugh'.

"Everything I do away from snooker is great. I want to do that as much as I can, but also obviously I want to play a bit of snooker and do myself justice."

O'Sullivan has often found himself embroiled in controversial issues, but the world No. 4 intends to take things very much in his stride and let others worry about the future direction of the sport.

He added: "I tried to kind of get players together and do something, but they all just bottled out in the end, so I thought 'you know, I have just got to do my own thing, live my own life'.

"I have gone and done other bits outside snooker, because I can. This is a Brucie Bonus for me. I understand what the players are going through, but until they get their bottle together and stand up together, then they are just going to have to keep moaning."